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09 Dec 2014
Under the patronage of HRH Princess Rym Ali, the conference "Syrian Refugees in Jordan: The Question of Society and Media," took off on Monday with the participation of around 200 academics, political personalities and media professionals from Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Participants also included representatives of international relief and refugee organizations as well as Arab and international media.<br />
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Organized by the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute of Journalism, the conference will discuss, for the duration of 3 days, 51 research and working papers dealing with 8 major topics related to Syrian refugees and their situation in Jordan. The different aspects will include the refugees’ demographic composition, education, health and professional status as well as their housing inside and outside the camps.<br />
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The conference will also examine the economic impact of the refugee crisis on Jordan in sectors dealing with education, health, water, infrastructure and municipal services. In addition, it will discuss the social ramifications of the crisis, and the relief operations, humanitarian work and media discourse connected to it.<br />
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In his opening speech, JMI’s Dean, Dr. Basim Tweissi, said that the conference comes at a time when the refugee crisis is worsening both inside Syria and the neighboring, host countries. He noted that while the tragedy of asylum is spiraling into increased complexity and hardship, there is a decline in the international community’s commitment in fulfilling its obligations towards refugees and their host countries.<br />
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Dr. Tweissi highlighted the need now more than ever to collect and share information about the reality of this crisis and its impact by providing experts, academics and opinion leaders with a platform from which they can make their research and opinions heard. This, the Dean said, was the aim of the conference which hopes to build a database on the status of Syrian refugees in Jordan, and to provide institutions concerned with this issue with an opportunity to build a network of relations with the media.<br />
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For his part, the Director of the Free Media Programme at the Norwegian Institute of Journalism, Mr. Frode Rekve, highlighted Jordan's role in hosting Syrian refugees despite being a small country with limited resources, and the burden its community is shouldering. Rekve hoped that the conference will contribute in answering the various questions being presented in the different papers, and in reflecting the reality that refugees live and in getting it across to the international media and the world.<br />
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Mr. Rekve explained that the conference comes as part of a series of activities the Norwegian Institute of Journalism is carrying out in Jordan in cooperation with JMI in the field of media training and cultural exchange. The institute hosts JMI’s MA program students in Journalism and New Media on academic trips to Norway, the latest of which took place this summer.<br />
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In parallel to the conference, 20 Jordanian and Syrian journalists hailing from audio visual, print and electronic media will be participating in an advanced workshop. Organized by JMI in collaboration with Reporters without Borders -Sweden, the workshop will focus on the special skills needed in covering refugee issues from the perspective of human rights.